One kills Farmer's son. In the aftermath, Farmer learns that his wife has gone missing. He has no desire to join the local army, even when invited by King Konreid (Reynolds) himself. Instead, Farmer sets out to find his missing wife with the help of her brother Bastian (Sanderson) and longtime friend Norick (Perlman).

In the meantime, King Konreid's spoiled brat nephew Duke Fallow (Lillard) is tired of waiting in line for his turn to rule. King Konreid has no children, and his nephew Duke will become king the moment Konreid dies. Duke schemes secretly behind the scenes with the powerful magician Gallian (Liotta), who wants to take over the world, starting with Konreid's kingdom. But Duke isn't the only one under Gallian's thumb. King Konreid has his own magician, Merick (Rhys-Davies), and Gallian has seduced Merick's daughter Muriella (Sobieski). He pretends to help her tap into her own magical powers, but Gallian is actually sapping Muriella of her magical strength so he can add it to his own. Muriella soon smells a rat and breaks her relationship with Gallian.

Muriella has other secrets. She practices sword fighting with the king's army captain every day, hoping that someday her father will let her put on armor and fight alongside the king's men.

What no one knows is that Gallian uses magic to control the Krugs. It may have been a Krug that killed Farmer's son, but because Gallian controlled the Krug, Gallian is the real killer.

As Farmer and his friends journey in search of the missing Solana, they find adventure in a magical forest, only to become separated. On his own, Farmer eventually decides to join the king's army, destined for a showdown with the evil Gallian.

A battle that seems never-ending

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale is based on the Dungeon Siege video game. For the past several years, Hollywood has been shaking in its boots at the threat posed by video games: Too many potential movie-goers would rather stay at home and play video games, especially because games keep getting better and better. In the Dungeon Siege game, the player is a farmer who can gain help from a variety of characters. The Dungeon Siege movie is so loaded with characters that it would be helpful to have a scorecard to tell them apart. On the other hand, they're more like caricatures than real characters.

On the plus side, In the Name of the King is loaded with action. There are battles galore. A particularly big battle sequence includes archers, swordsmen, pikemen, ninjas and wood nymph-like creatures, led by Elora (Loken), who dangle on vines like Cirque du Soleil acrobats. Then, of course, there's Farmer's favorite weapon: a boomerang. Anyone who enjoys fun fight sequences should have a field day.

The story itself, predictably, is a little dicey. Gallian is an evil magician who's apparently gone mad. He also has some kind of mine and is controlling the Krugs in order to capture humans to work as his slaves. But why not just enslave the Krugs themselves? What is the resource that Gallian is mining, and what does it have to do with the story? He has some kind of history with Merick, but what does that have to do with anything?

On the other hand, Farmer's story is a pretty good one, although not a surprising one. And even though the women in his life have minor roles, that doesn't mean they're wallflowers. By the end of the film, nearly everyone has picked up some kind of weapon and swung it around a few times.

Anyone who has played Dungeon Siege will probably want to see In the Name of the King. The entire film has a sepia look and feel, which makes the Middle Ages setting feel nice and gritty. There's a good amount of magic and battles that seem like they might never end.